Sharing stage with Karat, PM remembers Surjeet

“He was aware of the political compulsions of being a backward economy and a backward society. Therefore, he was willing to take a pragmatic view on many things. So, we see in him an ideal representative of the cause of social justice who was willing to look at practical possibilities of (taking) people with diverse perceptions to move the movement of social justice forward,” Singh said, describing Surjeet as a “towering leader”. “One can have many differences with my Left colleagues, but the question for social justice is one big uniting factor,” he added. Singh said Surjeet “never lost sight that India is a country of great diversity and there was a need for strengthening the unity and diversity of the country. He never did anything to encourage communal forces or promoted casteist feelings.”

Calling him Sardar Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the Prime Minister recalled his first meeting with the late CPM leader in Mumbai when he was the Governor of RBI in the ‘80s. Surjeet came to discuss not monetary policy but the “crisis” in Punjab.

The condolence meeting, organised by the CPM, was chaired by Karat and leaders from all mainstream political parties barring the BJP were present. The Prime Minister and Karat, who had exchanged many a barb before and after the trust vote in Parliament, sat next to each other and exchanged words. Singh’s cabinet colleague Pranab Mukherjee said Surjeet was a “great protagonist” of secularism and a relentless fighter against communalist, obscurantist and all other forces of disruption.

While Karat remembered Surjeet as a leader entrenched in the grassroots and who was always in the forefront of forces fighting against communal forces, his CPI counterpart A B Bardhan said he always looked up to Surjeet whenever he needed advise on political issues. An emotional Vaiko said it was a fitting tribute that Surjeet was honoured by gun salute at his funeral as he faced the British bullets as a teenager and SP’s Ramgopal Yadav remembered how Fidel Castro stayed through Surjeet’s eye operation in Havana in 1999.